Fluid container



Jan. 27, 1931. H. J. KERR 1,790,478

FLUID CONTAINER Filed June 27, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Ml /E/M/ Jan. 27, 1931. H. J. KERR FLUIDl CONTAINER" Filed June 27, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l INVENTOR A"TT0RNEY Patentedy Jan. 27, 1.931

' UNITED, fs'rATss rArENT OFFICE EOWARD J. KEER, or WEsTrIELD, NEWJERSEY, Assrenon 'ro THE BABCOCE sawILcox coMPANmoEBAYoNNENEW JERSEY, A conformaron or NEW JERSEY y FLUID CONTAINER Application filed June 27,

My present invention relates to drums for steam boilers or the like, and particularly such drums .when made by rolling a sheet of metalinto Vcylindrical,form with the edges thereof abutting to form a buttpjoint. -Such joints are usuallycovered by innerand outer straps riveted to the drum shell and, in order to prevent leakage, the edges of the straps are i caulked against y the drum shell. In some cases, in steam boilers, tubes have their ends inserted inthe drum through such straps.

In such drums, if the caulking is defective, the liquid from the drum will enter between the drumy shell and the inner strap. through some defective point rin the caulkingiand will then iind its way through some opening through therdri'imshell (as atl the -shell joint itself, for instance), and ,mpaythen flow to any'point beforefappe'aring beneath the edge of the outer strap. Consequently, when liquid does appear at the edge of the outer strap, it

is impossible to tell where the leak inthe caulking is, because the liquid may have trave eled long` distance before it appears., VV'Ihe same is true of` leakage around the inserted tubes. ainy leakagethrough the tube hole may travela considerable distancebef'ore appearing at the" edge of the outer strap, makingit-difficultto determine thevpoint of 3o leakage.

One ofthe, objectslovfmy linvention is to ,provide means Vby whichrleakage can be readfv. ily located. My invention will be bestunderstood from the'following description and the 35. annexed drawings, vin-which Fig. 1 1s a cross section and' 2 a side elevation of a steam boiler drumj which I have chosen" for purposes of illustration,v Fig. 1 being a section o online 11 of FigrQ; Fig.`3 is-anl enlarged View of afportion of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a section on line 4 4 of Fig( 3; Fig. 5 is a section on line 5+5 of Fig.` 3'; Fig. 6 isan enlarged section of the/@outer strap onlineof Fig.':3\; Figs. f7 and 8 are respectively crossV` 1925.,v serial No. 39,891. 2

line 10-10 of Fig. 9, and-Fig.` 11 isa section Online .l1-11 ofFig 9;

Like reference charactersvindicatelike parte throughout the drawings.

\ `In Figs. 2,1 to 6, inclusive, 10is a drum of a type commonly used insteam boilers,the shell being formed of two Semirylindrical at the joints usually do vnot quite contact,

the .space between them.` being indicated [ati 15. The edges of theinnery straps 11,7112

are caulked against the drum shell 10 andthe, edges ofthe outer straps 13, 14; .maykalsof :beg

caulked, though ypreferably I omit the, .caulkJT ing of the outer straps;

Through thestrapsl 11, ,13,.eiitendi .tubesL 17,'17','h01es 18eme 19,.,injjstraps 11,13 and holes 20 in the drumvshelllbeing provided for that purpose. I-IolesQO, are made slightly larger than'holeslS, 19` and the tubes17,

have their ends expanded in holes18,v`19 .f` v Withthe arrangement so` `far` described,

it Vis obvious. that liquid 'nding' its. way past the caulkingeofthe inner, strap 11 will flow in an undirected coursetill it meets an opening through the drum shell, as the joint 15 betweenV the. edges of the drum", plates,

the holes 18,19 or` evenfa defective. rivet l which does not quite fill its holes'.

. It Will theni'low beneathV the outer strap' 13 and will againflow in an undirected path y, till it finds an opening beneaththe outer edgey ofthe strapj13. I ecaaise,thefcourseofthe liquidis undirected,there.is no ymeans of locating theleak, because it may be near]` Y to o r far from the ypoint of, appearanceof theliquid. A y

In orderv to direct the "course-r of theliquid,

I'provide grooves` inthe'A. surface between the strap and drum which will bring the liquid tothe edges of the outer strap 13 at a point, closelyV adjacent the pointof leakage. In Figs. 3 to 6, inclusive, grooves 21 are provided on the inner face ofv strap`13, extending from the,V joint 15 tothe outer edges ofthe strap, -between, rows ofrivets.`

itc

These grooves may be very shallow, say l-U- of an inch deep. ln addition, grooves 22 extend from holes 18 to grooves 21. Grooves 21 extend to and through the edges of strap 13, but, if desired, may stopshort of the edges, the liquid being then delivered so near the edges that when it appears it will be substantially at the point to which it would have been led, if the grooves 21 extended through the edges.

Similarly, the inner face of the inner strap 11 is provided with grooves 23 which parallel grooves 21. But grooves 23, in no case, extend through the caulked edges of strap 11, because obviously that would defeat the purpose of the caulking. If desired, the grooves 23 may be omitted. The grooves may be in the metal of the drum, instead of in the straps. Preferably, I close the joint 15 by spot welding at intervals, as at 15.

With the arrangement described, any liquid passing the caulked edge of strap 11 at any point will shortly encounter one of the grooves 23 and will be led to the joint 15. The spots 15 will compel the liquid to flow into the groove 21 connecting with the part of the joint 15 between a pair of the spots 15 and will then be led to the edge of stra-p 18, at a point closely adjacent the point of leakage, so that this last-named point can be readily found and the defect remedied. Similarly, if leakage occurs around one of the tubes 17 the liquid passes through hole 2O and then enters one of the grooves 21, as before.

In the arrangement shown in Figs. 7 to 11, inclusive, the drum 25 is formed with a butt joint covered by outer strap. 26 and inner strap 27, the joint itself being indicated at 28. This joint is closed at spaced intervals by the spot welds 28. Grooves 29 extend across the surface between strap 26 and drum 25 (being cut either in the strap or the drum, as hereinbefore explained) and grooves 30 are out either in strap 27 or the surface of the drum under strap 27, but stopping short of the caulked edges of strap 27. The operation of these grooves is as 'explained in connection with Figs. 3 to 6, inclusive.

While I have illustrated by invention in a drum having a longitudinal seam, it will be understood that it may be applied to any seam covered by a strap or the like, where it is desirable to lead the liquid leaking past a supposedly tight joint to the surface near Where the leak occurs.

I claim:

1. A cylindrical drum having a butt joint and inner and outer straps covering said joint and riveted to the drum, with the edges of the inner strap caulked to form a tight joint between said edges and the drum, the outer strap and the drum having contacting faces, and one of said faces having grooves therein extending from the edges of the drum joint substantially to the outer edges .of `the outer strap.

2. A cylindrical drum having a butt joint and inner and out r straps covering said joint and riveted to the drum, with the edges of toe inner strap caulked to form a tight joint between said edges and the drum, the inner strap and the drum having `contacting faces and one of said faces having grooves extending across it but not past the caul :ed edge and the outer st 'ap and the drum having contacting faces, one` of said faces having grooves extending across it substantially to the outer edges of said strap, each groove on the inside of the drum communicating with a groove on the outside of the drum through an opening through the shell of the drum.

3. A cylindrical drum having a butt joint and inner and outer straps covering said joint and riveted to the drum, with the edges of the inner strap caulked to form a tight joint between said edges and the drum, the inner strap and the drum having contacting faces and one of said faces having grooves extending across it but not past the caulked edge and the outer strap and the drum having contacting faces, one of said faces having grooves extending across it towards and through the outer edges of said strap, each groove on the inside of the drum communieating with a groove on the outside of the drum through an opening through the shell of the drum.

e. A cylindrical drum having a butt joint and inner and outer straps covering said joint and riveted to the drum, and tubes extending through said straps and the shell of the drum and expanded into the inner strap, with a clearance hole for the tube in the drum shell, the outer strap and the drum having contacting faces and one of said faces having grooves each extending from a tube hole substantially to the outer edge of said strap.

5. A cylindrical drum having a butt joint and inner and outer straps covering said joint and riveted to the drum, and tubes extending through said straps and the shell of the drum and expanded into the inner strap, with a clearance hole for the tube in the drum shell, the outer strap and the drum having contacting faces, and one of said faces having grooves therein, each extending from a tube hole towards and through the outer edge of said strap.

6. A cylindrical drum having inner and outer straps with a joint disposed within the limits defined by the edges of said straps, the edges of the inner strap being caulked to form a tight oint between said edges and the drum, the outer strap and the drum having contacting faces, and one of said faces having a groove leading from said joint substantially to an edge of said outer strap.

Y 7. A cylindrical drum having a butt joint and inner and outer strapscovering said joint and riveted to the drum, with the edges of the inner stra-p caulked to form a tight joint between said edges and the drum, the outer strap and thedrum having contacting faces, and one of said faces having a groove therein extending from said oint substantially to an Y Y edge of said outer strap;

8. A cylindrical drum having a butt joint and inner and outer straps covering said joint and riveted to the drum, with the edges` of thev inner strap caulked to form a tight joint betweensaid edges and the drum, the Y outer strap and the drum having contacting faces, one of said faces having a groove therein extending from said joint substantially to I an edge of saidl outer strap,` and the edges of said drum at said oint being weldedl'tol gether on opposite sidesof said groove.

9. A cylindrical drum having inner and outer straps with a joint disposed within the j limits defined by the edges of said straps, the edges of the innerl strap being caulked to form a tightjoint between said edges and the drum, the drum contacting with the'faces of said innerV and outer straps, one of the contacting faces of the inner strap and the drum having a groove extending from said joint towards but not past the caulked edge, and one of the contacting faces between the outer strap and the drum having a groove extending from said joint substantially to the outer edge of said outer strap.

l0. A cylindrical drum having inner and outer strapsriveted to the drum shell with tubes extending through said straps and shell and expanded into the inner strap with a clearance hole for'the .tube in the druin shell, the outer strap and the drum having contacting faces, and one of said faces having grooves therein, eachextending from a tube hole towards and through the outer edge of said strap.

11. A cylindrical drum having innerr and outer straps with'a oint disposed within the limits defined by the edges of said straps,the Y outer strap and the drum having contacting` faces, and one of said faces having a groove leading from said joint substantially to an Y edge of said outerstrap. 1

l2. A pressure container including an overlying reinforcing member in contact with the wall thereof, spaced passages between theV wall and member and each leading to a point adjacent the exterior of the member, and dams defining sections of the drum wall to be served by the passages whereby said pas- Vsages function as a tell-tale forleakage in,V

therespective sections set off bythe dams.

' 13. AA pressure container having perforations in the wall thereof, a reinforcing inember in contact with the surface of said container and having registering perforations,

elements extending through the perforations 

